My boyfriend swept into town last night, and we shared an evening at the Marriott Downtown. It was fabulous.
He picked me up at work. I packed a bag the night before, and informed my roomie not to expect me at her place. Tuesday I had a meeting in Iowa City. We got back around 3:30, and I waited nervously for my honey to call.
He was in town for a state meeting. In good pants. And a nice shirt and tie. Looking all sexy. He called around 4:45 to say he was on his way to pick me up. I practically bolted out the door and made it to my car to pick up my bag just in time.
We checked into the hotel at the same time as a bunch of school people. It was a madhouse. My guy chose to utilize the valet parking service - how suave! We went up to the room and put on our comfy clothes. I hated to see him take off his handsome outfit.
Later we walked through the skywalk system to get to Court Avenue for a bite to eat. For real excitement we watched our fave TV show - The Good Wife - together. We talked, but sometimes we were just happy being together while I read my book and he read USA Today.
I like spending time with my boyfriend, my best friend, my husband of 29 (in August) Paul George Goldsmith.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Donating
I donated blood today. It's my Lenten thing. In past years I've given up stuff. One year I gave up Internet sites, or certain foods. This year I decided to give up blood. It involved getting out of my comfort zone to make an appointment at a place I have walked by for years - the blood center on Locust, near where I work.
Once I started looking into it, making the appointment was pretty slick. It was right online. And the center just changed names - to the Life Serve Blood Center:
http://www.bloodcenterofiowa.org/news.aspx
When I got there, it took scant minutes to check in. I didn't have to fill out a long form. The medical stuff I had to answer was a slick online form. Everyone was extremely nice and the place was clean and well lit. My iron was stellar and the finger prick wasn't too bad. The tech struggled to find my vein - they all do. But she did good and struck red gold. I was outa there in an hour.
I feel good about my donation. O Positive, baby!
Once I started looking into it, making the appointment was pretty slick. It was right online. And the center just changed names - to the Life Serve Blood Center:
http://www.bloodcenterofiowa.org/news.aspx
When I got there, it took scant minutes to check in. I didn't have to fill out a long form. The medical stuff I had to answer was a slick online form. Everyone was extremely nice and the place was clean and well lit. My iron was stellar and the finger prick wasn't too bad. The tech struggled to find my vein - they all do. But she did good and struck red gold. I was outa there in an hour.
I feel good about my donation. O Positive, baby!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Bishop's letter
It's time for the annual Diocesan Appeal for the Diocese of Des Moines. This year, instead of donating, I wrote this letter on behalf of Paul and me.
Dear Bishop Pates
We are writing regarding the Annual Diocesan Appeal. We realize the Diocese does many good things with the funds received, but we will not be supporting the Appeal this year.
We were embarrassed by Diocese support of the Religious Conscience Protection Act, House Study Bill 50. While we agree the Church has a right to decide whether or not to allow same sex couples to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony. After searching our consciences on this matter, we believe same sex couples have a right for a legal marriage in the eyes of the law, as the State of Iowa presently allows.
We know several gay people and have a niece who is married to her partner. They didn’t ask to be born the way they are, and just because their “difference” isn’t visible to our eyes doesn’t make them less different.
When the Diocese actively supported this type of far-reaching measure cloaked as the “Religious Conscience Protection Act” we were very disappointed. The bill was so poorly written that it allowed for discrimination in many areas. We don’t wish to support lobbying by the Diocese.
Paul and I donate locally to St. Malachy School and will send a donation to the St. Joseph Emergency Shelter.
and we both signed it. This week Paul texted me to say we'd gotten a letter from the Bishop. I texted back, "Are we excommunicated?" halfways hoping the answer was "yes". But no. It was a poorly written half assed apology. I think. He said it was a mistake, but didn't really own up to what the mistake was, or who made the mistake.
For those of you not from Iowa, the crappy legislation the diocese supported would have allowed churches and small businesses to discriminate against pretty much anybody, including gay couples legally married. A Clarinda legislator came up with this sad idea. An example: A photographer books a wedding and then finds out it's a gay wedding. And she's a - gasp - Christian who doesn't believe in same sex marriage. She should be able to cancel the contract without fear of being sued. Or a landlord finds out the two roommates he leased an apartment to are really "partners" and wants them out of his property.
The legislation was so poorly written that it would have allowed not only illegal discrimination against legally married gay couples, it would have allowed all sorts of other discrimination. Therefore the bill didn't get out of committee. But I was still embarrassed that the Catholic Lobbyist had registered in favor of the bill. So take that Bishop!
Anyway, we got a nice thank you note from the Shelter. This week I'm also going to try donating blood at the Blood Center near where I work. Hope they can find a vein, and I'm not anemic or anything. I haven't been able to donate since I've been working in DSM. It's my Lenten deal this year - I'm not "giving up" anything - I'm giving something.
Dear Bishop Pates
We are writing regarding the Annual Diocesan Appeal. We realize the Diocese does many good things with the funds received, but we will not be supporting the Appeal this year.
We were embarrassed by Diocese support of the Religious Conscience Protection Act, House Study Bill 50. While we agree the Church has a right to decide whether or not to allow same sex couples to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony. After searching our consciences on this matter, we believe same sex couples have a right for a legal marriage in the eyes of the law, as the State of Iowa presently allows.
We know several gay people and have a niece who is married to her partner. They didn’t ask to be born the way they are, and just because their “difference” isn’t visible to our eyes doesn’t make them less different.
When the Diocese actively supported this type of far-reaching measure cloaked as the “Religious Conscience Protection Act” we were very disappointed. The bill was so poorly written that it allowed for discrimination in many areas. We don’t wish to support lobbying by the Diocese.
Paul and I donate locally to St. Malachy School and will send a donation to the St. Joseph Emergency Shelter.
and we both signed it. This week Paul texted me to say we'd gotten a letter from the Bishop. I texted back, "Are we excommunicated?" halfways hoping the answer was "yes". But no. It was a poorly written half assed apology. I think. He said it was a mistake, but didn't really own up to what the mistake was, or who made the mistake.
For those of you not from Iowa, the crappy legislation the diocese supported would have allowed churches and small businesses to discriminate against pretty much anybody, including gay couples legally married. A Clarinda legislator came up with this sad idea. An example: A photographer books a wedding and then finds out it's a gay wedding. And she's a - gasp - Christian who doesn't believe in same sex marriage. She should be able to cancel the contract without fear of being sued. Or a landlord finds out the two roommates he leased an apartment to are really "partners" and wants them out of his property.
The legislation was so poorly written that it would have allowed not only illegal discrimination against legally married gay couples, it would have allowed all sorts of other discrimination. Therefore the bill didn't get out of committee. But I was still embarrassed that the Catholic Lobbyist had registered in favor of the bill. So take that Bishop!
Anyway, we got a nice thank you note from the Shelter. This week I'm also going to try donating blood at the Blood Center near where I work. Hope they can find a vein, and I'm not anemic or anything. I haven't been able to donate since I've been working in DSM. It's my Lenten deal this year - I'm not "giving up" anything - I'm giving something.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
NCAA Brackets
I'm not doing too well on my NCAA bracket this year...which is not surprising since I spent all of 5 minutes making my choices. I looked at seeding numbers and records of course - they were right there on the brackets. But mostly I looked at the team names.
I'm married to Pablo. He loves hoops. Jud is my son he too loves basketball. Amy and Jud both played basketball from birth through high school, and even in intramurals in college. We're a ballin' fam. Through the years I've formed relationships with some teams - due to a certain coach, team or even a player.
Like UCONN - I really dislike Jim Calhoun, the coach. But I'm not dumb - so I'll pick them for a couple games, but will pick against them as soon as I can! Same with other cheater coaches - and their teams. Last year I picked all the Big 12 teams to do well and they hurt me - so I didn't do that this year.
And I didn't want to just go with top seeds - that's a cop out. I saw North Carolina vs Duke the week before and both looked darn good. I picked each of those teams to do well. Florida was my other team to do well. Butler just took care of them. And Arizona polished off Duke - my pick to win the whole thing.
UCONN has them on the ropes right now. Cheater! Fun games to watch though.
I'm married to Pablo. He loves hoops. Jud is my son he too loves basketball. Amy and Jud both played basketball from birth through high school, and even in intramurals in college. We're a ballin' fam. Through the years I've formed relationships with some teams - due to a certain coach, team or even a player.
Like UCONN - I really dislike Jim Calhoun, the coach. But I'm not dumb - so I'll pick them for a couple games, but will pick against them as soon as I can! Same with other cheater coaches - and their teams. Last year I picked all the Big 12 teams to do well and they hurt me - so I didn't do that this year.
And I didn't want to just go with top seeds - that's a cop out. I saw North Carolina vs Duke the week before and both looked darn good. I picked each of those teams to do well. Florida was my other team to do well. Butler just took care of them. And Arizona polished off Duke - my pick to win the whole thing.
UCONN has them on the ropes right now. Cheater! Fun games to watch though.
The big unit
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| Sharon and Al |
Al can do about anything. Yard stuff, build a gorgeous house, rebuild a car - he can do it all. Al loves babies and seems to be a great dad. Plus he's a handsome dude married to a wonderful lady, Sharon for 40 years. I'm sure he's got some bad habits - but he seems to keep them well hidden!
We ended up the night - of course - at Sidetracked. I have started to dislike the place less. Last night there was even a lime in my vodka tonic. It was pathetic, but there. There is a regular bunch of people that hangs out at the joint. Barflies, ya know. Last night we were part of that crowd - not that I'm bragging. John Carroll joined us as we talked about RAGBRAI - the bike ride across Iowa.
It probably wasn't Al's most fun bday ever - but I was glad to spend it with a great guy and good friend. Happy Birthday Allan - and many more!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Got an offer!
It was a pretty good day today, for a Thursday, even though I didn't get to go home. The 9.75 hour work day went by pretty quickly, actually. It was chilly out, so I didn't mind staying in at lunch and eating tuna. I kept busy finishing up designing a Survey Monkey survey for our stakeholders. Kinda fun really.
We had a pre-EMS (Environmental Management System - with a 9 member Council made up of a variety of stakeholders) meeting meeting today. The EMS meeting is tomorrow - and is bound to be contentious. A couple meetings ago a kinda got emotional and spoke up too much. But hey, last meeting I did great! So, note to self - zip lip again tomorrow. My boss Brian gave me "the look" today when he said "let's all keep our emotions in check" or something to that effect. What?? Me, lippy?
After work I attended the Planned Parenthood book sale. I got a cookbook, a couple books for Pablo (poolboy books on pool maintenance) a couple novels and a CD.
And I got the best phone call I've had in a long while! Jud called once - we discussed his job hunting dilemma - he'd gotten a call from a recruiter advising him of a job he should apply for at a coffee maker manufacturer 60 miles SW of Des Moines. Jud gulped - That's in Creston! Ick! I told him not to rule anything out - perhaps this was how he could break into the working world...and it's not that far from KC where his girlfriend Kara will be living. My maternal pep talk. He agreed to at least apply.
He also had an interview lined up in Minneapolis Monday. While he was in class, he'd had a call from the Altec Company rep he'd interviewed with two weeks ago, but had missed it, and the guy was gone for the day when he returned the call after 5 PM.
Five minutes later he called back jubilant. He has a job offer from Altec in St. Jo, Missouri! It even came with a signing bonus. St. Jo is just an hour from Kansas City. And isn't that far from Creston either. Yep - a pretty good day...
We had a pre-EMS (Environmental Management System - with a 9 member Council made up of a variety of stakeholders) meeting meeting today. The EMS meeting is tomorrow - and is bound to be contentious. A couple meetings ago a kinda got emotional and spoke up too much. But hey, last meeting I did great! So, note to self - zip lip again tomorrow. My boss Brian gave me "the look" today when he said "let's all keep our emotions in check" or something to that effect. What?? Me, lippy?
After work I attended the Planned Parenthood book sale. I got a cookbook, a couple books for Pablo (poolboy books on pool maintenance) a couple novels and a CD.
And I got the best phone call I've had in a long while! Jud called once - we discussed his job hunting dilemma - he'd gotten a call from a recruiter advising him of a job he should apply for at a coffee maker manufacturer 60 miles SW of Des Moines. Jud gulped - That's in Creston! Ick! I told him not to rule anything out - perhaps this was how he could break into the working world...and it's not that far from KC where his girlfriend Kara will be living. My maternal pep talk. He agreed to at least apply.
He also had an interview lined up in Minneapolis Monday. While he was in class, he'd had a call from the Altec Company rep he'd interviewed with two weeks ago, but had missed it, and the guy was gone for the day when he returned the call after 5 PM.
 |
| Jud and roomies - and, oh look who's in the back ground! |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Historic Williamsburg
First - Amy G is back in the US of A. Yay! She got to Denver this evening, but I spoke to her around 1 PM, during her layover in Detroit - her voice was music to my ears!
And now our regularly scheduled program:
I visited Historic Williamsburg today. At least that's what I told my husband...because when I said on Sunday, "I'm thinking of going to Williamsburg." He asked, "Williamsburg? Williamsburg?" Like he didn't know exactly what I was talking about. So I said, "you know, historical Williamsburg."
You see, Iowa's biggest Outlet Mall is there - the Tanger Outlet - just off the Interstate about 15 miles west of Iowa City. So it IS historic! I have a great deal of outlet history with that place...we used to stop on our way to George and Laura Goldsmith's in Earlville.
So I left work a bit early and headed east on I-80. When I got there, I spent about an hour in the Eddie Bauer store, after a brief walk through at Hush Puppy (they carry Merrill). I purchased a few tops there, and tried on some pants but no go. Then I headed to Jockey, where I'm on the "friends" list. I had an email coupon for 40% off bras. Ended up with 3 of them plus 3 tanks (a/k/a wifebeaters).
I was sorry to note that the Fossil outlet was history on my historical tour. ;>(. I stayed on my mission. Last I hit Vanity Fair, after walking through Reebok. Tried on a few things, and ended up with some black capris, $10 green canvas pants and a couple pairs of shorts for Paul. A job well done! I was back at Joan's by 7:30 PM!
Next - I can't wait until my vaction when I get to investigate the streets of that other magic place in old Fort Myers - Miramar. There's a Columbia Outlet store there!!
And now our regularly scheduled program:
I visited Historic Williamsburg today. At least that's what I told my husband...because when I said on Sunday, "I'm thinking of going to Williamsburg." He asked, "Williamsburg? Williamsburg?" Like he didn't know exactly what I was talking about. So I said, "you know, historical Williamsburg."
You see, Iowa's biggest Outlet Mall is there - the Tanger Outlet - just off the Interstate about 15 miles west of Iowa City. So it IS historic! I have a great deal of outlet history with that place...we used to stop on our way to George and Laura Goldsmith's in Earlville.
So I left work a bit early and headed east on I-80. When I got there, I spent about an hour in the Eddie Bauer store, after a brief walk through at Hush Puppy (they carry Merrill). I purchased a few tops there, and tried on some pants but no go. Then I headed to Jockey, where I'm on the "friends" list. I had an email coupon for 40% off bras. Ended up with 3 of them plus 3 tanks (a/k/a wifebeaters).
I was sorry to note that the Fossil outlet was history on my historical tour. ;>(. I stayed on my mission. Last I hit Vanity Fair, after walking through Reebok. Tried on a few things, and ended up with some black capris, $10 green canvas pants and a couple pairs of shorts for Paul. A job well done! I was back at Joan's by 7:30 PM!
Next - I can't wait until my vaction when I get to investigate the streets of that other magic place in old Fort Myers - Miramar. There's a Columbia Outlet store there!!
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